Jean (Packard) Hirtle

Jean (Packard) Hirtle of Braintree died peacefully in her sleep on February 24, 2022 at the age of 90. Jean was born in 1931 in Quincy, the daughter of Walter and Laura Packard. She grew up in the Wollaston section of Quincy before moving to Braintree and graduating from Braintree High School in 1949. She attended and graduated from Radcliffe College, class of 1953, having spent her junior year abroad in Paris. Following graduation, she moved to Washington D.C. where she was a cryptanalyst at the NSA for several years. She married Phillip Hirtle in May 1957 and moved with him to Braintree in 1960, where she lived for the remainder of her life. She worked for Lord & Taylor at the South Shore Plaza for ten years through the late 1990s.

Family meant everything to Jean. For 64 years, she was the loving wife to Phillip, who died in November 2021. She was a wonderful and caring mother to her three daughters, Beverly Hirtle of New York City; Karen Hirtle of Seville, Spain, and her husband, Enrique Rodriguez Palacios; and Phyllis Hirtle of Weymouth. She was a loving and doting grandmother to Alejandro Rodriguez Hirtle and Andrea Rodriguez Hirtle of Seville, Spain and Emily Hirtle and Andrew Hirtle of New York City. Her siblings, Nancy (Packard) Crowley, Walter Packard and Wallace Packard predeceased her.

Jean enjoyed traveling with Phillip and friends, especially to Europe and on cruises. For many years, Jean and Phillip had a house on the Cape in Sandwich, where they hosted many family vacations. She was an avid crossword puzzler and played word games of all types. She was a tremendous cook, always the center of family and holiday meals. She and Phillip enjoyed exercising at the Weymouth Club, where they made many friends in the senior aerobics classes. Jean was a parishioner at the Church of the Holy Nativity in Weymouth for many years.

Visiting hours will be on Thursday March 3 from 4 to 7 PM at the Peck Funeral Home on Washington Street in Braintree. Services will be held at the funeral home on Friday at 10:30 AM. Burial will follow at the Blue Hills Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Greater Boston Food Bank (www.gbfb.org).  

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